Could Trump lose his business empire in New York fraud case?

Former US President Donald Trump could be banned from the real estate business in New York, a potentially devastating blow to his real estate empire that catapulted him to fame long before winning the White House.

Trump is accused of securing loans with false financial statements for several years. After a heated trial that lasted more than three months, a Manhattan court is set to announce its ruling this week.

The New York fraud case is only one of several trials heating up against Trump even as he inched closer to securing the Republican presidential nomination following his decisive victory in the Iowa caucus and New Hampshire primary earlier this month.

Here’s what we know about this civil case and how it might affect Trump’s presidential campaign:

New York Attorney General Letitia James brought the civil lawsuit against the former president, The Trump Organization, and top officials at the business on September 21, 2023 – although an inquiry into the former president’s business dealings had been ongoing for about three years prior.

In the filing, James accused Trump and officials at The Trump Organization – including his children, Ivanka, Eric and Donald Jr – of “knowingly and intentionally” creating over 200 overly-inflated financial evaluations between 2011 and 2021 that helped the company secure favourable loans from banks and insurance companies to the tune of $250m.

Those actions violated the antifraud New York Executive Law, James wrote in her suit, seeking a $250m penalty against Trump.

Senior Trump Organization executives Allen Weisselberg and Jeffrey Mcconney were also named as defendants, alongside companies and entities belonging to Trump such as 40 Wall Street, a skyscraper in Manhattan’s financial district. Trump’s sons Donald Trump Jr and Eric Trump are co-defendants in the case.

In a summary judgment on September 27, 2023, that essentially resolved the key claims in the suit, presiding Judge Arthur Engoron of the Manhattan Supreme Court ruled that Trump had committed years of fraud by massively inflating his real estate worth to lenders. His Mar-a-Lago estate, for example, was found to be inflated to about 2,300 percent of its actual price in one statement.